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KAMILLA KALININA, ANNA PETRAKOVA, KSENIA CHUGUNOVA, OLGA SHUVALOVA

A PSYKTER WITH HETAERAE IN THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM COLLECTION: HISTORY, QUESTIONS, FUTURE POSSIBILITIES

коринфских ваз [On Some Stylistic Groups and Masters of Orientalising Corinthian Vases]”. In: Культура и искусство античного мира [Kul’tura i iskusstvo antičnogo mira]. Lenin-grad, 1971: 5–17.

Brownlee 2003Brownlee, Ann Blair. “Workshops in the Potters’ Quarter”. In: Williams II, Charles K. and Nancy Bookidis (eds.). Corinth. Re-sults of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classi-cal Studies at Athens. Vol. XX: Corinth, the Centenary, 1896–1996. Princeton (NJ), 2003: 181–194.

Bukina 2010Bukina, Anastasia. “Ilioupersis on a  Corinthian Black-figured Pyxis in the State Hermitage Museum”. Antike Kunst. 2010. Vol. 53: 3–11.

Bukina, Shuvalova 2011Bukina, Anastasia, Olga Shuvalova. “� e Restoration and Attri-�e Restoration and Attri-bution of a  Black-Figure Olpe from the Collection of Marquis Campana”. Reports of the State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg, 2011. [Issue] LXIX: 36–46.

Callipolitis-Feytmans 1973Callipolitis-Feytmans, Denise. “Origine de la pyxis convexe et sans anses à Corinthe”. In: Archaiologike ephemeris. 1973: 1–18.

Cataloghi del Museo CampanaCataloghi del Museo Campana. [Roma], s. a.

La collezione Augusto Castellani 2000La collezione Augusto Castellani / a cura di Anna Maria Moretti Sgubini; Soprintendenza archeologica per l’Etruria meridionale; Museo nazionale di Villa Giulia. Rome, 2000.

Corinth XIII Blegen, Carl William, Hazel Palmer, Rodney Stuart Young. Corinth. Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Vol. XIII. The North Cemetery. Princeton (NJ), 1964.

Corinth XVIIIPemberton, Elizabeth G. Corinth. Results of Excavations Con-ducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Vol. XVIII. Pt. 1: The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore: the Greek Pottery. Princeton (NJ), 1989.

Dehl-von Kaenel 1995Dehl-von Kaenel, Christiane. Die archaische Keramik aus dem Malophoros-Heiligtum in Selinunt. Berlin, 1995.

Grasso 1999Grasso, Lorenza. Kotylai corinzie figurate dalla stipe votiva del santuario di Demetra a Catania. Catania, 1999 (Studi e mate-riali di archeologia greca. [Fasc.] 4/1.1).

Ingoglia 1999Ingoglia, Caterina. Kotylai corinzie figurate a Gela. Rome, 1999 (Quaderni del CVA Italia. [Fasc.] 2).

Inventory of Objects...Опись предметам древности, случайно приобретенным Императорской Археологической Комиссией в 1901 г. и  пе-реданным в ИЭ при отношении от 25 октября 1903 г. за №  2063 [Opis’ predmetam drevnosti, slučajno priobretjonnym Imperatorskoj Arxeologičeskoj Komissijej v 1901 g. i peredan-nym v IE pri otnošenii ot 25 okjabrja 1903 g. za No. 2063/Inventory of Objects of Antiquity, Acquired... by the Imperial Archaeological Commission in 1901...]. Manuscript in �e State Hermitage Museum.

Kalapodi I Felsch, Rainer C. S. Kalapodi. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen im Hei-ligtum der Artemis und des Apollon von Hyampolis in der antiken Phokis. Mainz am Rhein, 1996. Vol. 1.

Kryzhitsky, Buyskikh, Otreshko 1990Kryzhitsky Sergey, Sergey Buyskikh, Valery Otreshko [Крыжицкий Сергей, Сергей Буйских, Валерий Орешко]. Античные поселения Нижнего Побужья (археологическая карта) [Antičnyje poselenija Nižnego Pobužja (arxeologičeskaja karta)]. Ed. by Rusyaeva, Anna. Kiev: Institute of Archaeology of  the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1990.

OAK for 1861Отчет Императорской Археологической комиссии [Otčjot Imperatorskoj Arxeologičeskoj komissii]/ Compte-Rendu de la Commission Impériale archéologique 1861. St. Petersburg, 1863.

Payne, NC 1931Payne, Humfry Gilbert Gars. Necrocorinthia, a  Study of Corin-thian Art in the Archaic Period. Oxford, 1931.

Perachora 2 Dunbabin, �omas James, et al. Perachora. The Sanctuaries of Hera Akraia and Limenia. Excavations of the British School of Archaeol-ogy at Athens (1930–1933). Pottery, Ivories, Scarabs and others Ob-jects from the Votive Deposit of Hera Limenia. Oxford, 1962.

Stephani 1869Stephani, Ludolf Eduard. Die Vasensammlung der Kaiserlichen Ermitage. St. Petersburg, 1869.

Translated by Catherine Phillips

In the collection of the State Hermitage Museum is an Attic red-figure psykter with images of four naked female figures reclining on couches, holding various items in their hands (Inv. No. Б. 1650, Inv. No. ГР. 4584; ill.  1). Vessels of this form – “mushroom-shaped” or bulbous – were used by the Ancient Greeks to cool wine: most scholars (Richter, Milne 1935; Noble 1965; Drougou  1975; Schreiber 1999) have agreed that the psykter was placed inside a  krater, the psykter filled with wine and the krater with cold water. �e cool wine was poured from the psykter into cups using a ceramic or bronze ladle. We can see a psykter inside a krater in feasting scenes on Athenian black- and red-figure vases, such as a cup in Essen (Folkwang Museum, Inv. No. F 169) (Vierneisel, Kaeser 1990: pl. 41.7), a frag-ment of a cup from the Museo Archeologico in Florence (Beazley Archive Database: No. 200448), and another cup at Compiègne (Inv. No. 1102) (CVA Compiègne, Musée Vivenel: pl.  17.2.5). A  pelike in Bonn (Viernei-sel, Kaeser 1990: pl. 41.6) shows a man dipping a ladle or scoop into a  psykter inside a  krater, while an oino-choe in the National Museum in Athens (Inv. No. 1045) shows a man removing the water from a krater inside which stands a psykter (CVA Athens, Musée National 1: pl. 2.1–3). �ere is an extremely rare form of the vase, a krater-psykter (Beazley Archive Database: No. 15922), which is a vase in the form of a krater with an in-built psykter; there is also a rare form known as an amphora-psykter (CVA Boston, Museum of Fine Arts 1: pls. 33.1–2, 34.1–2). �e psykter was entirely made on a potter’s wheel, without any added details (except those psykters which have handles). Scholarly publications of collec-

tions of Attic black- and red-figure ceramics around the world provide information about some hundred or so more or less whole psykters, quite a small quantity when compared with the quantity of surviving amphorae or kylikes, which can be counted in their thousands. �e psykter with hetaerae is the only whole psykter in the Hermitage collection.

�e psykter is a  type of Ancient Greek clay vase in use in Athens for about a  hundred years, from the second half of the 6th century to the first half of the 5th  century BC. �ere are well-known black-figure psykters from the last third of the 6th century BC attrib-uted to the circle of the Antimenes Painter (CVA Leip-zig 2: pls.  27.1–2, 28.3–4; CVA Musée du Louvre  8: pls.  73.2–3, 73.8–10; Drougou 1975: pl. 14.1), the workshop of Nikosthenes (Tosto 1999: pl. 45.183) and the Leagros Group (Drougou 1975: pls. 5.1–2, 27.1). Best known of the red-figure psykters are a  piece in the Hermitage attributed to Euphronios (505–500 BC) (Peredolskaya 1967: No. 17), a  fragmentary psykter by Euphronios in Boston (Drougou 1975: pl. 6), a psykter in the British Museum by Douris (c. 500 BC ) (Buitron-Oliver 1995: pls. 54–55), a psykter by Myson in Berlin (c. 490 BC) (Drougou 1975: pl. 22.1) and a psykter by the Pan Painter in Munich (c. 480 BC) (Braccesi et al. 1988: No. 18). We also know of psykters by Onesimos (Drougou 1975: pl. 16.2), the Tyszkiewicz Painter in the Villa Giulia in Rome (CVA Villa Giulia 4: pl. 42.1–2); by Smikros (Drougou 1975: pl. 4.2) and the Kleophrades Painter in the Louvre (Drougou 1975: pl. 14.2); by Phin-tias in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (Drougou 1975: pl. 1); by Euthymides in the Museo Archeologico

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ll. 1. Red-figure psykter Б.1650. Euphronios. Athens. Late 6th century BC. �e State Hermitage Museum a – Seklina; b – Agapa; c – Palaisto; d – Smikra

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in Turin (Drougou 1975: pl. 12); by the Dikaios Painter in the British Museum (Drougou 1975: pl. 10); by Ol-tos in New York (Drougou 1975: pl. 2); by the Syriskos Painter in the Baltimore Museum of Art (Drougou 1975: pl. 26.1), and others, as well as a rare example of a  late red-figure psykter by the Painter of the Yale Le-kythos, dated 470–460 BC (Beazley Archive Database: No. 207679). Not all psykters were adorned with figura-tive images, more modest pieces being simply covered with black glaze and given several bands of ornament (CVA Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 1: pl. 48.26).

�e Hermitage psykter shows a  scene of feasting: the naked women reclining on the striped cushions are hetaerae, frequent participants in such banquets, their purpose being to entertain the men. Although they are entirely naked, three of the women wear caps (the fourth has a patterned fillet). As an element of Ancient Greek attire, the cap was not only worn exclusively by women but served specifically to indicate the wearer’s sex: the wearing of a cap by a man (even a bearded man) was in-tended to signify – as is recorded in written sources, for instance in Aristophanes – a change in status (whether within the confines of the theatre, as a disguise or a par-ody of female behaviour). �e hetaerae wear round ear-rings, with fine cords around the arms of three and the thigh of one. One of the women plays a  double flute (ill. 1, a) (its case hangs behind her), another holds two skyphoi (ill. 1, b), the third drinks wine from a skyphos and holds a kylix in her other hand (ill. 1, c), the fourth holds a  skythos in her left hand and uses the kylix to play at the game of kottabos (ill. 1, d).

�e author of the Hermitage psykter is one of the leading Athenian vase-painters and potters of the late 6th and early 5th century BC, Euphronios (Eu-phronios 1990). Unlike most names given to Athenian vase-painters, which are the invention of scholars for the purposes of identification of stylistic groups (Bea-zley 1963), Euphronios was the painter’s real name, recorded by him on the vase in the form “Painted by Euphronios”. �e Hermitage psykter is one of the few vessels attributed to Euphronios which preserves the painter’s own signature. It is also of interest in that it bears not only the name of the painter but the name of the four characters depicted. �us we can add the names Seklina, Palaisto, Agapa and Smikra to the list of names of hetaerae known from written sources. Be-side Seklina is an inscription: “I throw this [drop] to you, Leagros”, a dedication to an Athenian youth who

was very popular in the late 6th century BC (there are a number of dedications to him on red- and black-fig-ure vases from this period).

�e psykter was one of 565 (or 566) vases acquired for the Imperial Hermitage from the collection of Mar-quis Campana in 1861. In recent years research into the history of the Hermitage collection conducted jointly with Anastasia Bukina of the Department of Classi-cal Antiquity has demonstrated that the painted vases from two Italian collections, those of Campana and Piz-zati, were confused when the newly arrived Campana vases were arranged in the halls of the New Hermitage in 1862, requiring the complete transformation of the whole display. �is led to unfortunate errors from the first catalogue produced by Ludolf Stephani (Stepha-ni 1869) through to the most recent museum publica-tions. Fortunately, the psykter with hetaerae can be definitely demonstrated to derive from the Campana collection, being noted as something remarkable even in the catalogue drawn up prior to the sale (Cataloghi del Museo Campana).

It is the Campana catalogue (Cataloghi del Museo Campana: seria XI.К.119) that provides us with the first known description of the Hermitage psykter, complete with correct interpretation of the figures (we should note that a good number of the other vases in the cata-logue are there incorrectly described) and reproduc-tions of the inscriptions.

�e next detailed descriptions of the psykter were those by Ludolf Stephani, first in the reports of the Imperial Archaeological Commission for 1869,1 with an outline of the form, all the figures and inscriptions (ill. 2), and then in his catalogue of the Hermitage vase collection published that year, which also included a re-production of the form and inscriptions (Stephani 1869: No. 1670). Since then generations of Hermitage scholars have admired the psykter with hetaerae, not least in the catalogue by Anna Peredolskaya (Peredolskaya 1967: 25). Today the psykter continues to be much in demand, with regular requests for permission to reproduce it in Russian and foreign publications.

It is no surprise, therefore, that the Hermitage psyk-ter features in all the fundamental publications on the

1 Vases from the collections acquired by the Hermitage in the 19th century started to appear in the Отчет Императорской Ар- Императорской Ар-Императорской Ар- Ар-Ар-хеологической комиссии (OAK)/Compte-Rendu de la Commission Impériale archéologique from the issue for 1861 (published in 1863), in which year many interesting finds were made (OAK for 1861: 31).

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Ill. 2. Reproduction of the psykter in OAK for 1869

history of Ancient Greek vase-painting published in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, such as the works of Ernst Buschor (Buschor 1914: 159, pl. 113), Adolf Furtwängler (Furtwängler, Reichold 1904–1932: vol. 2, p. 15, pl. 63), Ernst Pfuhl (Pfuhl 1923: vol.  3, pl. 394; vol. 1, pp. 356, 447, 450) and John Hoppin (Hop-vol. 1, pp. 356, 447, 450) and John Hoppin (Hop-. 1, pp. 356, 447, 450) and John Hoppin (Hop-pin 1919: vol. 1, pp. 404–405). It appears in the earliest publications on depictions of symposia and kottabos on vases, by Otto Jahn (Jahn 1867: 221, pl. I), and on Euphronios, by Wilhelm Klein (Klein 1886: 104–105). Nor has the Hermitage psykter been omitted from most of  the important publications on vase-painting pro-duced in the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century, from specialised studies of the his-tory of feasting and kottabos, of the depiction of frontal faces in vase-painting, the form of the psykter, the vases of Euphronios and much more.

Clearly the interpretation of the subject and the at-tribution of the psykter have been the subject of consid-

erable attention over the course of some hundred and fifty years. It would be impossible to list all of the publi-cations that deal with the Hermitage psykter with hetae-rae and it might seem impossible to add to our knowl-edge of questions of subject and attribution. It was the state of preservation of the vase that led us to return our attention to it.

For several decades the psykter has not been avail-able for loan to exhibitions outside the Hermitage, due to the instability of the joins recorded during conserva-tion checks by staff in the Hermitage’s Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Applied Art Objects. �ere has been considerable concern regarding this problem in recent years and a planned study undertaken in 2011 revealed that the joins had come apart on both sides of the psykter and that there was cracking and flaking in the repainting on the figures of the hetaerae. Special-ists who have devoted many years to the study of the conservation of vases from historic collections were

consulted and they confirmed the dangerous state of the psykter, on the verge of collapsing into pieces. We were forced to consider what measures might be taken in order to preserve one of the key objects in the Her-mitage collection of Ancient art, not only vital to schol-arly work and catalogues but an inalienable part of the permanent exhibition. Since first going on display in 1862 the vase has left the museum halls only for short temporary exhibitions.

It is the duty of all museum employees not only to study the works in their care but to take preventive ac-tion to ensure their preservation. We therefore under-took an urgent study of the piece, applying all available methods to determine the state of the object and draw up a programme of conservation and restoration meas-ures which could be commenced immediately, as well as a  list of options to be followed if the object should fall apart. Such a programme is possible only through a  close collaboration between keeper (curator), physi-cists, chemists and conservators.

When the Campana collection was acquired for the Hermitage, the vases were all, apparently, whole. Some were indeed whole shapes but others had been carefully stuck together by nineteenth-century Italian restorers, using original fragments and careful clay inserts to re-place areas of loss. Worn areas of the original painting and the new inserts were painted so that the vase creat-ed the impression of a whole, beautiful vase, extremely attractive to a potential buyer. At a conference on the history of collections of ancient ceramic vases and their restoration held at the Institut national de l’histoire de l’art in Paris, 31 May to 1 June 2011 (L’Europe du vase antique 2012), papers by colleagues around the world mentioned the names of a  number of nineteenth-century artists (such as Lagrenée and Tischbein) who collaborated with restoration workshops and who ap-plied the same techniques they used in their painted canvases to the retouching and new painting of Ancient vases. �e psykter with hetaerae is one of those Cam-pana vases that underwent significant restoration in the 19th century.

As early as the 1860s Stepan Gedeonov expressed concern regarding the state of preservation of some of the vases in the Campana collection. He did everything in his power to ensure that they were suitably packed and transported: by cart from Rome to Civitavecchia, then by ship to Kronstadt and thence on small boats to the Jordan Entrance of the Winter Palace. �e trans-

portation took place in spring and summer, the objects set out on tables for the Emperor to view in summer and autumn, and then moved to their final location in autumn and winter, i.e. there were considerable tem-perature changes, particularly during the latter period. Gedeonov was extremely concerned by this and pre-sented an official request that the vases be moved to dif-ferent rooms because of the danger represented by the cold and humidity. He also ordered special glass domes to go over some of the vases which were presumably intended to provide at least partial protection from at-mospheric variations. Lastly, Gedeonov brought two restorers from Rome, Charles Bute and Alessandro Depoletti, to carry out conservation work on the ex-hibits in case of damage on their journey; they were initially engaged for three months but the volume of work must have been greater than anticipated for they ended up spending eight months in Russia (for detailed information on this see the article in this volume (Pe-trakova 2012)).

Study of a number of the vases restored in the 19th century that arrived with the Campana collection has demonstrated not only a  similarity of technical ap-proach but the frequent application of new paint over uncleaned areas of the vase, so that the destructive salts continue to act below what looks like a stable sur-face. One good example of this is the krater with ships Б. 1525 from the Campana collection, the conservation of which was covered in a paper presented in 2010 at the Hermitage’s Restoration Council (Petrakova, Bori-sova 2011). �e presence of salts and the drying of glued joins under the influence of changes in temperature and humidity (which cannot be accurately controlled in the context of the current museum rooms and cases) made the eventual collapse of the psykter into pieces inevita-ble. A  full study of all aspects of the psykter with he-taerae was clearly necessary in order to determine the complex of possible measures for its preservation (bear-ing in mind questions such as the percentage of replace-ment inserts and retouchings in relation to the original parts, the solubility of various substances in water or chemical cleaning materials, and the potential for resto-ration of the form and painting on the psykter after all conservation works had been undertaken).

Furtwängler had already provided a  detailed de-scription of the joins and retouching on the psykter at the start of the 20th century (Furtwängler, Reichold 1904–1932: vol. 2, p. 19). It was only in 1967 that

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Ill. 3. Photographs of psykter Б.1650 in ultra-violet light (orange and pink show areas of nineteenth-century retouching) Ill. 4. X-ray fluorescence spectra: red – spectrum of the original

ceramics; green – spectrum of the retouching

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Peredolskaya – who noted the incompleteness of Furt-wängler’s description – provided a  full description of the object’s state (Peredolskaya 1967: 24). Although it was already known back in the early 20th century that the painting on the psykter had been distorted by re-touching, none of the reproductions of the vase – even the colour photographs in recent publications – have ever provided diagrams to indicate where the retouch-ing was located (it were simply described in the text). �e surface had not been cleaned, due to the very high risk of damage to this valuable, well-known and much-published object.

For the first time since its arrival in the Hermitage, the psykter was transferred to the museum’s Depart-ment of Examination and Authentication of Works of Art to be studied by a variety of specialists. When work-ing with objects in museum collections, preference is given to non-destructive methods of study and two of these were chosen here:1 visible-induced luminescence imaging in ultra-violet light2 and X-ray fluorescent analysis of the surface.3 Luminescence imaging is one means of capturing something not visible to the eye under normal lighting conditions (compare ills. 1 and 3). When working with ceramics, the method allows us to identify joins in the pottery, to find the limits of the restoration painting, see dirt and, in some cases, estab-lish the nature of the restoration materials. In physical terms, luminescence is the emission of light from or-ganic and non-organic materials prompted, in this case, by the ultra-violet rays. Visible-induced luminescence images usually reveal different areas of restoration re-touching against the homogeneous luminescence of the fired clay.

Study in ultra-violet rays (ill.  3) revealed consid-erable areas of repainting, far beyond those described in Peredolskaya’s catalogue. �ere was retouching not only in the figures of each of the hetaerae but across the whole surface of the stem, the lower part of the body and the neck, not mentioned either by Peredols-kaya or Furtwängler (although Peredolskaya had said

1 Expert report by the Department of Examination and Authenti-cation of Works of Art No. 1638 of 09.02.2011.

2 �e equipment used consisted of two ultra-violet lamps (high pressure mercury vapor arc-discharge lamps) with a  wavelength of  365 nm, and a  camera, SBIG STL-11000M (SBIG Astronomical Instruments).

3 Using Bruker’s Artax µ-XRF spectrometer Bruker (U = 50 kW, I = 700 mkA).

that the latter had more or less correctly set out the main areas of repainting). �is repainting was prob-ably applied in the 19th century to enhance the black areas of the psykter, since such vases were particularly admired for  their black metallic sheen with a play of colour under the light.

In some cases luminescence can provide addition-al information about pigments used in the repaint-ing. Lead whites, for instance, are shown as grey or white, while zinc whites appear greenish yellow (Ko-solapov 2010: 14). But we should be careful in identify-ing pigments solely from their luminescent colour, since most pigments are mixed within an organic medium or binder. �e visible-induced luminescence of the psyk-ter in ultra-violet light revealed restoration joins and retouching of two kinds, giving luminescence of differ-ent colours, bright orange and pink, probably due to the use of different binders. �e characteristic bright orange luminescence of the kind visible in the photographs is usually associated with the presence of shellac.

X-ray fluorescent analysis of the surface allowed us to identify the composition and draw certain conclu-sions regarding the use of mineral pigments. �e results of this analysis show that both kinds of retouching were executed using pigments containing lead, the presence of these pigments (and the binders) determining the lu-minescence of the areas covered with repainting. �at differs from the luminescence of the original fragments of the vase, which are free of repainting and are execut-ed using ceramic technologies (Noble 1965). �e main component of the original painting (and of the clay mass itself) is iron (ill. 4).

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Ill. 5. Points at which cross-sections were taken

Ill. 6: c – EDX- spectroscopy of the superficial original black surface of the psykter; d – EDX-spectroscopy of part of the clay from which the psykter was made

Ill. 7: a – Photograph of cross-section 2, from a sample taken from a restored part of the red figure of a hetaera,

in visible polarised light, magnification x 200. �e filler of the upper orange layer is lead red, the upper layer of ground is small-particle fractionalised gypsum, the filler of the lower layer of ground is a mixture

of large-particle calcium aluminosilicates with a small quantity of iron and potassium aluminosilicates. Between the upper layer of the ground and the orange paint layer is an application of gelatine;

b – image of cross-section 2, from a scanning electron microscope; c – EDX-spectroscopy of the superficial orange layer;

d – EDX-spectroscopy of the intermediate restoration layer (upper layer of the ground)

Ill. 6: a – Photograph of cross-section 1, from a sample taken from an original part of the psykter

in visible polarised light, magnification x 500; b – image of cross-section 1, from a scanning electron microscope

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�e chemical composition of the organic glues and resins in the joins and areas of retouching – presum-ably carried out in the 19th century – was identified. Using a  µ-XRF spectrometer and luminescence imag-ing micro-samples were taken in areas of both kinds of retouching and, for comparison, in those parts of the vase unaffected by the retouching (ill. 5).

For the closest possible study of the paint structure, cross-sections were produced: the samples were placed

in polymer blocks which were then polished to reveal one side of the cross-section containing the sample. �ese cross-sections were studied under a microscope in the visible light spectrum and then photographed. �is study made it possible to draw conclusions regard-ing the different layers of paint, both original and res-toration. Dark field images of the cross-sections, pro-duced using the polarising microscope POLAM-312, appear as ills. 6, a; 7, a; 8, a; 9, a; 10, a; 11, a.

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Ill. 8: a – Photograph of cross-section 3, from a sample taken from a restored part of the red figure of a hetaera,

in visible polarised light, magnification x 200. �e filler of the two upper orange layers is lead red with some inclusions of silicates, the upper layer of the ground is small-particle fractionalised gypsum, the filler of the lower layer of ground is a mixture

of fractionalised calcium aluminosilicates with a small quantity of iron and potassium aluminosilicates. Between the upper layer of the ground and the orange painter layer is an application of gelatine;

b – image of cross-section 3, from a scanning electron microscope

Ill. 9: a – Photograph of cross-section 4, from a sample taken from the restored lower black part of the psykter,

in visible polarised light, magnification x 300. �e filler is a black pigment with some inclusions of yellow chrome, orange chrome, lead red and lead white; b – image of cross-section 4, from a scanning electron microscope;

c – EDX-spectroscopy of the yellow inclusions

Ill. 10: a – Photograph of cross-section 4, from a sample taken from the restored lower black part

of the psykter, in visible polarised light, magnification x 400. �e filler of the upper layer is black pigment with inclusions of yellow chrome, orange chrome, lead red and lead white, the thin white layer of ground is a mixture of gypsum with aluminosilicates, the lower orange layer is the original clay;

b – image of cross-section 4, from a scanning electron microscope

Ill. 11:а – Photograph of cross-section 6 in visible polarised light, magnification x 100.

Sample taken from the inner restored part of the psykter. �e filler of the upper black layer is gypsum with a mixture of black pigment and a small quantity of silicates and a pigment containing iron, the thick white layer

of ground is chalk with a tiny amount of gypsum and aluminosilicates, the lower orange layer is the original clay; b – image of cross-section 4, from a scanning electron microscope

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a b

a b

To gain more precise information regarding the composition of the non-organic materials the cross-sections were studied using a  scanning electron mi-croscope with X-ray micro-analysis (LEO-1420VP). SEM-BSE images of cross-sections are reproduced as ills. 6, b; 7, b; 8, b; 9, b; 10, b; 11, b. Investigation of the

pigment composition of each layer of the cross-sec-tions using SEM-EDX and the study of the pigments in polarised light allowed us to draw certain conclu-sions regarding the non-organic materials of the dif-ferent layers (ills. 6–11). �e results of this analysis are presented in table form.

90 91

A comparison of the images produced with the aid of the optical microscope and scanning electron micro-scope, showing the original areas and those with differ-ent kinds of restoration, reveals quite clearly the differ-ence between the different technical approaches. �e original black covering of the surface (ill. 6) was applied directly to the clay in a homogeneous fine layer some 30 µm thick. �ere is no organic binder.

Ills. 7–11 show micro-photographs of the cross-sec-. 7–11 show micro-photographs of the cross-sec-show micro-photographs of the cross-sec-tions from the areas of restoration. Cross-sections 2 and 3 (ills. 7 and 8) were taken from the figure of the hetaerae Agapa and have a multiple-layer structure consisting of an upper paint layer and two layers of ground. �e res-toration retouching of the figure was carried out accord-ing to the accepted practice for applying a painted image to an uneven surface, such as stone or a rough piece of wood: first the surface is covered with a  large-particle pigment ground with a mixture of animal glue, then this is covered with a layer of small-particle pigment such as gypsum (Kiplik 2002: 337–338). In this case, the coarse-particle pigment of the first layer of the ground, the gesso grosso, is a mixture of aluminosilicates of calcium, mag-is a mixture of aluminosilicates of calcium, mag-aluminosilicates of calcium, mag-of calcium, mag-nesium, iron and potassium with a small quantity of gyp-sum. �ickness of the layer: 150 µm. �e second layer of ground consists of small-particle fractionalised gypsum. �ickness of the layer: 100 µm. �e binder for both layers of ground is animal glue. �e surface of the second layer of ground was then covered with a thin coating of animal glue. After the areas of loss had been filled through the application of two layers of ground to the original sur-face, the reddish-orange image of the hetaerae was ap-plied. Since EDX-spectrometry showed only lead in the pigments of the orange layer, it was concluded the main pigment in the upper reddish-orange layer was lead red (ills. 7 and 8). �ickness of the layer: 50 µm.

Samples 4 (ill. 9) and 5 (ill. 10) were taken from the lower part below the black stem of the krater, showing pink in ultra-violet light. Study of the cross-sections in this light revealed them not to be evenly black, as ap-peared to the naked eye. �e cross-section of the resto-ration painting (sample 4, ill. 9) showed white, orange and yellow inclusions in the black ground. An analysis of these inclusions revealed that the white and small reddish-orange inclusions are pigments composed mainly of lead, i.e. lead whites and lead red respec-lead red respec-respec-tively. �e spectra showed that the composition of the yellow and orange inclusions includes lead and chrome (ill.  9, c), allowing us to conclude that these pigments

are lead-chrome combinations, chrome yellow and chrome orange. Upon establishing the pigments used in the restoration retouching it became possible to date the restoration process: since industrial production of these pigments in Europe (Britain) commenced only in 1814–1816 (Kuhn, Curran 1985: 188), and the psykter was ac-(Kuhn, Curran 1985: 188), and the psykter was ac-and the psykter was ac-psykter was ac-was ac-quired in 1861, it must have been carried out some time in the second quarter or middle of the 19th century.

Sample 5 (ill. 10), unlike sample 4, is a conglomerate of multiple layers. Over the original clay ground (the orange lower layer) a fine layer of white ground was ap-plied to even out the areas of surface loss. �is white ground is a  mixture of gypsum with aluminosilicates, with adding of animal glue as the binder. �e filler of the upper layer is black pigment with some inclusions of chrome yellow, chrome orange, lead red and lead whites. In composition this layer is analogous to the main layer of sample 4. �e absence of a ground in sample 4 and the absolutely even inner surface of the sample are evidence that there was no surface loss at this point. It thus seems likely that after the filling of areas of loss and evening of the surface in the lower part of the krater with a mixture of gypsum and aluminosilicates ground with animal glue, a thin black layer – the main pigment of which is black, presumably soot with some other coloured inclu-sions – was applied to almost the whole of this surface.

Sample 6 was taken from the inner surface of the krater which was stuck down with bands of muslin as re-inforcement. A photograph of a cross-section of sample 6 can be seen in ill. 11. At more than 500 µm the layer of restoration reinforcement on the inside of the krater is much thicker than that of the external layers. Study of the pigment components of the separate layers revealed that the filler of the thick white layer (the ground) is chalk, with a small admixture of gypsum and alumino-alumino-silicates (ill. 11, c), while the filler of the upper black layer is gypsum with an admixture of black pigment contain-ing iron, with a small quantity of silicate. �e binder for both layers, both black and white, is animal glue.

Study of the composition of the organic materials was undertaken using gas chromatograph mass spec-trometer TRACE-2000 and micro-chemical tests. �e results showed that the binder for all the layers of the ground is animal glue, which is easily dissolved in water.

It was established that the binder of the reddish-orange and black layers was composed of a  mixture of vegetable oil, natural resin and wax. �e resin con-sisted largely of various modified di- and triterpene

TableResults of the study of the composition of non-organic pigments using a polarising microscope

and a scanning electron microscope with X-ray micro-analysis.*

Sample number Layer Elements discovered using

SEM/EDX Presumed pigments

1 Lower orange layer of the original clay

Upper black layer of the original coating

Si, Al, Fe, K, Ca

Al, Si, Fe, K

Iron, potassium and calcium aluminosilicates

Iron and potassium aluminosilicate

2 Lower layer of the restoration ground

Second layer of the restoration ground

Upper orange restoration layer

Si, Al, Ca, Fe, S, K, Na

Ca, S, Si

Pb

Iron, potassium and calcium aluminosilicate, tiny amount of gypsum

Gypsum, tiny amount of silicates

Lead red

3 Lower layer of the restoration ground

Second layer of the restoration ground

Two upper orange restoration layers

Si, Al, Ca, Fe, S, K, Na

Ca, S, Si

Pb

Iron, potassium and calcium aluminosilicates, tiny amount of gypsum

Gypsum, tiny amount of silicates

Lead red

4 Yellow inclusions

Orange inclusions

White inclusions

Pb, Cr

Pb, Cr

Pb

Chrome yellow

Chrome orange

Lead whites

5 Lower orange original layer of clay

White layer of the restoration ground

Upper layer of the restoration layer:

yellow inclusions

orange inclusions

white inclusions

Si, Al, Fe, K, Ca

Ca, S, Si, Al, K, Na

Pb, Cr

Pb, Cr

Pb

Iron, potassium and calcium aluminosilicates

Gypsum, potassium, calcium, sodium natrium and potassium aluminosilicates

Chrome yellow

Chrome orange

Lead whites

6

Lower orange layer of the original clay

�ick white layer of ground

Upper black layer

Si, Al, Fe, K, Ca

Ca, Mg, Si, Al, S

Ca, S, Fe, Si

Iron, potassium and calcium aluminosilicates

Chalk with a tiny amount of gypsum and aluminosilicates

Mixture of black iron-containing pigment, gypsum and a small amount of silicates

* Bold highlighting is used to indicate the main elements; the others are trace elements.

92 93

small-particle fractionalised gypsum. �e ground was applied to the original surface in order to even it up in areas of loss.

3. After filling and levelling of areas of loss with a mixture of gypsum and aluminosilicates ground with animal glue, restoration paint was applied to the surface of the psykter, reddish-orange or black according to re-quirements.

4. �e main pigments used during restoration were: orange – lead red; white – aluminosilicates, gypsum, chalk, lead whites; yellow – chrome yellow.

5. �e presence of chrome yellow allowed us to date the restoration to the second quarter or middle of the 19th century (between 1816 and 1861).

6. �e binder for all the layers of ground was water-soluble animal (collagen) glue.

7. �e binder of the restoration orange and thin black layers was a mixture of oil, resin and wax.

8. � e presence of alkides in the reddish-orange res-�e presence of alkides in the reddish-orange res-toration layer is evidence that at some point in the 1950s to 1970s the psykter was covered with a  thin layer of alkide varnish for the purposes of reinforcement.

Study of the vase undertaken in the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Applied Art Objects revealed not only its dangerous condition, the instability of the glues, the increasing separation of nineteenth-century joins, the presence of salts etc, but the impossibility of reinforcing the vase from within, since this is covered with a  thick layer of something like mastic, unevenly applied, making the inner surface of the vase inacces-sible and thanks to its uneven application exacerbat-ing the distortion of the form. It became clear that not only cleaning but the preventive reinforcement of the vase from within, with the purpose of avoiding the col-lapse of the vase, is not only impossible but would be dangerous. �e object was restored in the 19th century without prior cleaning and thus continues to deterio-rate below the overpainting, while that overpainting is now cracking and flaking. �e only conservation op-tion when the vase falls apart of its own accord will be to take it to pieces, clean it, reinforce the fragments and recreate the form from the original pieces with plaster infill of areas of loss, as was done with the krater with ships in 2009 (restorer Natalia Borisova) (Petrakova, Borisova 2011). � e successful experience of conserva-�e successful experience of conserva-tion of that krater (Б. 1525), after detailed physical and chemical analyses, and with full photographic record of the process and preservation of the nineteenth-century

pieces (separated from the original sixth-century BC pieces), demonstrates that such an approach is viable with regard to the psykter.

Unlike the krater with ships, however, the psykter with hetaerae is a famous, much-published object, one of the most prized items in the Hermitage Museum. It is the symbol of the Hermitage volumes of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, for a  stylised image of the he-, for a  stylised image of the he- a  stylised image of the he-a  stylised image of the he-taera Agapa appears on the cover. For various reasons the vases from the Campana collection have been the object of greater attention than those from other sourc-es and in her 1967 catalogue Peredolskaya said that the purchase of the Campana pieces was “of the greatest importance to the history of the creation of the depart-ment of antiquities overall” (Peredolskaya 1967: 5) (our emphasis – K. K. et al). Moreover, the psykter with he-Moreover, the psykter with he-sykter with he-taerae is a key element in the permanent display. In ap-is a key element in the permanent display. In ap-proaching the analysis and conservation of the object, all of the participants in the process face a difficult task, in which the needs of the object itself must be balanced against the historic value of the nineteenth-century res-toration and the object’s role – under its present guise  – within the museum and in the popular and specialist consciousness.

�anks to the physical and chemical analysis already undertaken and to modern conservation techniques we are able to offer a number of variations as to how the psykter could look after completion of conservation (ill.  12). Combined with the experience of vase resto-Combined with the experience of vase resto-ration around the world, in Berlin and Munich, in the Metropolitan Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the practice of restoration in many Italian museums, we have a  body of information at our disposal which can form the basis for a much wider discussion of the question of what the psykter should eventually look like. A number of questions remain open, such as the colour of the tinted plaster inserts – orange, black or speckled – and whether the outline of the figure should be indi-cated on the inserts in order to preserve the overall con-tours. One thing, however, is absolutely clear: the object is in dire need of conservation even if this leads to loss of the nineteenth-century restorations. Otherwise we must face the prospect of losing the piece in its entirety.

REFERENCES

Beazley 1963Beazley, John Davidson. Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters. 2nd ed., Oxford, 1963.

Ill. 12. Possible variations for the psykter’s appearance after conservation and restoration

a

c

b

d

combinations, a  composition more in keeping with different kinds of copal than shellac. �e wax had been worked and purified before use. Moreover, the reddish-orange layer also included alkides. We should thus as-sume that the painted surface of the psykter was covered with a  layer of alkide varnish, specifically to reinforce the painted image, some time in the 1950s to 1970s.

As a  result of tests the following characteristic fea-tures of the historic restoration were identified:

1. � e restoration retouching imitating the origi-�e restoration retouching imitating the origi-nal painting consists of multiple layers, i.e. two layers of ground and at least one layer of paint.

2. �e lower layer of the ground is a  coarsely ground aluminosilicate, the filler of the upper layer

95

Beazley Archive DatabaseBeazley Archive Database. URL: http//www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/ index.htm (last referring on 01.03.2012).

Braccesi et al. 1988Braccesi, Lorenzo. et al. Veder Greco, le necropoli di Agrigento, mo-stra internazionale, Agrigento, 2. maggio – 31. luglio 1988. Rome, 1988.

Buitron-Oliver 1995Buitron-Oliver, Diana. Douris. A  Master-Painter of Athenian Red-Figure Vases. Mainz, 1995.

Buschor 1914Buschor, Ernst. Griechische Vasen. München, 1914.

Cataloghi del Museo CampanaCataloghi del Museo Campana. [Roma], s. a.

CVACorpus Vasorum Antiquorum.

Drougou 1975Drougou, Stella. Der Attische Psykter. Würzburg, 1975.

Euphronios 1990Euphronios, peintre à Athènes au VIe siècle avant J.-C.: exh. cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 18 septembre – 31 décembre 1990. Paris, 1990.

L’Europe du vase antique 2012L’Europe du vase antique: collectionneurs, savants, restaurateurs aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. Institut national d’Histoire de l’art. Paris, 2012.

Furtwängler, Reichold 1904–1932Furtwängler, Adolf, Karl Reichold. Griechische Vasenmalerei. München, 1904–1932.

Hoppin 1919Hoppin, John. A Handbook of Attic Red-figured Vases Signed by or Attributed to the Various Masters of the Sixth and Fifth Centu-ries B.C. Cambridge (MА), 1919.

Jahn 1867Jahn, Otto. “Kottabos auf Vasenbildern”. Philologus. 1867. Vol. 26.

Kiplik 2002Kiplik, Dmitry. [Киплик Дмитрий.]. Техника живописи [Texni-ka živopisi]. Мoscow, 2002.

Klein 1886Klein, Wilhelm. Euphronios. Wien, 1886.

Kosolapov 2010Kosolapov, Alexander [Косолапов Александр.]. Естественно-научные методы в экспертизе произведений искусства [Jestestvennonaučnyje metody v ekspertize proizvedenij iskus-stva]. St. Petersburg, 2010.

Kuhn, Curran 1985Kühn, Hermann, Mary Curran. (Ed. by Robert. L. Feller). Art-ist’s Pigments. A  Handbook of Their History and Characteristics. Washington (DC), 1985.

Noble 1965Noble, Joseph Veach. The Techniques of Attic Painted Pottery. New York, 1965.

OAK for 1861Отчет Императорской Археологической комиссии [Otčjot Imperatorskoj Arxeologičeskoj komissii]/ Compte-Rendu de la Commission Impériale archéologique 1861. St. Petersburg, 1863.

OAK for 1869Отчет Императорской Археологической комиссии [Otčjot Imperatorskoj Arxeologičeskoj komissii]/Compte-Rendu de la Commission Impériale archéologique 1869. St. Petersburg, 1871.

Peredolskaya 1967Peredolskaya, Anna [Передольская Анна]. Краснофигурные аттические вазы в Эрмитаже: каталог [Krasnofigurnyje attičeskije vazy v Ermitaže: katalog]. Leningrad, 1967.

Petrakova, Borisova 2011Petrakova Anna, Natalia Borisova. “A Krater with Ships from the Hermitage Collection. �e Importance of Restoration for Attri-bution of Ancient Vase-Painting”. Reports of the State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg, 2011. [Issue] LXIX: 47–62.

Petrakova 2012Petrakova, Anna. “Stepan Alexandrovich Gedeonov and Vases from the Campana Collection in the Hermitage. On the Histo-ry of their Acquisition”. Reports of the State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg, 2011. [Issue] LXX.

Pfuhl 1923Pfuhl, Ernst. Malerei und Zeichnung der Griechen. München, 1923. Bd. 1–3.

Richter, Milne 1935Richter, Gisela Marie Augusta, Marjorie Josephine Milne. Shapes and Names of Athenian Vases. New York, 1935.

Schreiber 1999Schreiber, Toby. Athenian Vase Construction. Malibu, 1999.

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Translated by Catherine Phillips

�e figure of a  youth made from baked clay (Inv. No. ГР 5389, list Г. 576 (Furtwängler 1883–1887: Taf. LXXVII, LXXVIII; Gorbunova, Saverkina 1975: No. 94; Raftopoulou 2000: 69, note 358, pl. 90. fig. 7)) entered the Hermitage in 1884 as part of the collection of terracottas purchased from the well-known collec-tor of antiquities Count Pyotr Alexandrovich Sabouroff (Khodza 2004b: 166–173). It stands out from other coro-plastic works not only for its extraordinary size (height 68 cm), but also for the style of execution, leaving no doubt that it is the work of a master who was capable of producing monumental sculptures (ills. 1–3).

A thermoluminescent analysis was carried out by Sergey Khavrin of the State Hermitage’s Department of Examination and Authentication of Works of Art who took samples from various parts of the figure and con-firmed its authentication. Only the left hand is a  later addition. �e figure is hollow and was made with the aid of several matrixes. �e back of the figure, which has an oblong vent with not a quite regular outline, was also made in a mould, but in an extremely slipshod manner. �e clay on one side lies in virtually unsmoothed lumps on which traces of a tool can be seen, in stark contrast to the painstaking work on the front of the figure (ill. 4). It is likely that the matrix was damaged, because a small part is hand-made. �e impression is that the master who made the terracotta knew in advance that it was to stand in a niche, so he either permitted himself this negligence or decided not to repair the damage that had occurred in the process of the work. Another possibil-ity is that for some reason the figure was finished by an unskilled apprentice.

�e terracotta consists of several parts glued together: joins can be detected on the neck, in the upper arm, be-low the left knee, on the left ankle and across the left foot, above the right knee and above the right ankle, and also across the support, approximately in the middle. �e lit-tle finger of the left hand has been lost, and the other fingers are glued on. �e right hand has not survived. �e upper edge of the support has broken off. Judging by the modification and darkening of the colour pigment (ochre), the figure was scorched, and this occurred be-fore it was broken into pieces. �e gluing together was carried out at various times using four different materi-als. Carpenter’s glue was used in the 19th century – it was then, in all probability, that the right arm was assembled and glued in such a way that part of it was concealed be-hind the figure’s back so that the loss of the hand was not immediately apparent. In the 1970s the parts that had disintegrated where the old glue had dried were joined with gypsum, using terracotta or grey mastic (polyvinyl butyral) to colour those places. On the support and on the back of the right leg below the knee there are addi-tions of a different clay, which may date from an earlier restoration. �e rectangular base consists of numerous fragments glued together.

Tests carried out by specialists in the Hermitage’s Department of Examination and Authentication of Works of Art – Ludmila Gavrilenko and Elena Ava-kova (microscopic and microchemical analyses) and Irina Grigorieva (Fourier-IR method) – showed that the terracotta had been painted more than once and that the materials used had been the high-quality, careful-ly ground pigments of natural minerals that had been

ELENA KHODZA

TERRACOTTA FIGURE OF A YOUTH FROM PYOTR A. SABOUROFF’S COLLECTION